Industry forum

More than 80 members of the local tourism industry attended last week’s DRTM industry forum held at the Energy Events Centre. They heard overviews, reviews and plans of DRTM activity from GM Don Gun, Assistant GM Ruth Crampton and Communications Manager Jill Marshall. Feedback has been extremely positive. Anyone who was unable to attend is welcome to get a copy of the PowerPoint presentation by emailing a request to karlene@rotoruaNZ.com. Copies of the new English DVD that were shown on the day – plus any of the four foreign language versions – can also be sourced via our Office Administrator Karlene McCormick.

Boys 4, girls 6

For those of you who didn’t get a chance to meet him at the forum, DRTM’s newest team member is Craig Hammond, pictured. Craig has taken over the Domestic and Events Co-ordinator role from Hayley McVicar. Craig is married with two children, Emily (4) and Joel (2).

On the move again

GM Don Gunn is on the move again; to the UK this time. Following a sales trip to Shanghai, China, attendance at a further roll out of ‘Rotorua Town’ in Nanjing, China, and a mayoral delegation to Rotorua’s Japanese sister city Beppu earlier this month, Don flew out to the UK yesterday. He is undertaking a week of training frontliners and training managers as well as meeting with product managers at TNZ’s annual UK Product Workshops in London, August 3/8. He will be representing both Rotorua and the Thermal Explorer Highway macro region.

Sounds like a good idea

To mark last week’s Maori Language Week, July 21/27, DRTM launched a new (permanent) feature in the Maori language area of our rotoruaNZ.com website.
The RDC’s Director of Kaupapa Maori, Mauriora Kingi, assisted in recording 40 Maori words including local lakes, place-names and common words that visitors are likely to come across while visiting Rotorua. Communications Manager Jill Marshall hopes the addition of the audio buttons on the site will encourage visitors to attempt a few simple Maori words. She says "hearing the words spoken slowly and clearly by a fluent te Reo Maori speaker will help people grasp the correct pronunciation and thus feel more confident about giving it a go.” DRTM plans to enter the new website audio project in the first-time entrant category of this year’s Maori Language Week Awards. Click here to view the page. The Maori language area attracted 374 page views in the past month (June 27 to July 27).

Meeting ‘n’ greeting buyers

Along with nine other local operators, Assistant GM Ruth Crampton and C & I Co-Ordinator Melissa Gray are in Christchurch this week promoting Rotorua at MEETINGS 2008, July 30/31. Now in its 12th year, MEETINGS is the country’s only national business tourism event for the conference, meetings, events, exhibitions and incentive travel industry. The 2-day tradeshow brings together buyers and sellers of conference and incentive travel products and services to grow mutual business opportunities and share knowledge and ideas. Following MEETINGS, Ruth will stay on in Christchurch to attend the annual NZ Tourism Conference.

Finding the way

Two new DRTM publications are about to come to fruition in the next week or so. A new mountain biking in Rotorua brochure and a Rotorua map. Free of advertising, the map has been designed for offshore and event use as well as meeting the growing demand for downloadable maps off the rotoruaNZ.com website. The MTB brochure aims to encourage first timers, occasional bikers and families to get out and explore the Whakarewarewa Forest trails while visiting Rotorua.

Plain brown wrappers

DRTM has re-stocked our supply of eco-friendly pens that offshore trade, agents and media respond positively to . . . but there is a difference this time. Made of recycled waste paper, we have chosen to have them laser engraved rather than use an ink process to add to their sustainability. Although plain and brown, the pens look good and the laser engraving achieves a smart effect.

Quality as well as quantity   

Comparing a 4-week period in June/July 2007 (when we changed to Google Analytics as our official tracking system) to the same period this year the quality of traffic on our main rotoruaNZ.com site improved. The average number of page views grew by 32.29% - browsers are now looking at an average of 8.72 pages per visit compared to 6.51 pages, on average the time they spent on the site grew by 29.92% - they’re now spending an average of 8:13 minutes per visit compared to 6:19 minutes, return visits are up more than 12% and the bounce rate (those leaving site without looking at other pages) is down by close to 23% - this means more people coming to the site via search engines are staying and looking at other pages. In the past three months (to June 30) we attracted 345% more visitors than other ‘vacation destination’ websites of a similar size worldwide.

Curiosities

Question: What do Chisinau in Moldova, La Chorrera in Panama, Kandy in Sri Lanka and Port Louis in Mauritius have in common? Well somebody in each of these four places visited rotoruaNZ.com in the past month (June 27 to July 27) and stayed on the site for a large amount of time. They stayed and viewed 28:20 minutes/25 pages, 16:57 minutes/19 pages, 20:34 minutes/17 pages and 18:23 minutes/28 pages respectively. The site average is just over eight minutes. Overall almost 10% of browsers visited 20 or more pages during their visit and almost 20% spent between 3-10 minutes on the site. New media visitors included 10 from Apple iPhones, seven from Apple iPod Touch, two from Sony Playstation 3 and one from Nintendo Wii.

Foreign sites

Three of our four foreign language websites saw a growth in page views over the past month (June 27 to July 27). The Chinese site recorded a 27.45% increase; the Spanish site was up 22.99% and the Korean site up 19.07%. Although visits to the Japanese site were up by 12.29%, page views were down by 3.6%.

Chinese link

Jessie Lu, currently on secondment in Shanghai from TNZ’s Wellington office is now including DRTM’s stand-alone Chinese language website address in all her generic training presentations. She let DRTM know she had added the address following Don Gunn’s visit to China earlier this month. Thanks Jessie, we are sure it will benefit Rotorua.

Last call for tourism conference

There’s still time to register for this year’s Tourism Industry Conference and Tourism Industry Awards being held in Christchurch on August 4/5. Keynote speakers include business columnist Rod Oram, Westpac Chief Economist Brendan O’Donovan, radio commentator John Tamihere, Boeing’s Director of Communications Ken Morton, Rugby NZ 2011 Chief Executive Martin Snedden and Department of Conservation (DOC) Director General Al Morrison. Minister of Tourism Damien O’Connor will open the conference with deputy leader of the National Party Bill English also speaking. New TIA Chief Executive Tim Cossar says the level of speakers at this year’s conference is unprecedented and features a ‘who’s who’ of key thinkers and decision-makers from New Zealand’s business community.

$7.5m grant for museum

The Rotorua Museum Centennial Building Project received a huge boost earlier this month when Prime Minister Helen Clark (who is also the Minister for Art, Culture and Heritage) announced a $7.5m grant which will ensure the completion of the Rotorua Museum building. The grant, from the Regional Museums’ Fund for Capital Construction Projects, will take the total amount of money raised for the project to $21m, enough to complete Stage III of the project, the south wing extension and refurbishment. Lyall Thurston, Chairman of the Rotorua Museum Centennial Trust said “It is wonderful to have the importance of this project recognised. As a project that was started by the New Zealand Government 100 years ago, it is fitting that the final funding should be provided by the Government of today.” Museum Director Greg McManus is also delighted with the additional funding. “Personally I am stunned and enormously grateful to the Government for such a generous commitment.” The Rotorua Museum Centennial Development will complete the Bath House building to its original proposed footprint. Stage II of the project, the North Wing extension, will open in November 2008. Stage III will begin in early 2009 and take approximately 22 months to complete.

KEA for kea

Rainbow Springs Nature Park announced a new sponsorship arrangement with KEA Campers and Firestone on July 10. Designed to support the housing and enrichment programmes for the park’s three resident kea – Howard, Snag and Jenny, the deal is for three years. KEA Campers’ support for the park’s kea is part of the company’s ongoing sustainability programme, says KEA Executive Director, Grant Brady. He says kea were chosen as the company’s identity when it started 13 years ago due to the native parrot’s intelligent, cheeky and playful nature. Firestone is also proud to support the Kea conservation effort and see it as a way to give back to the communities they serve. According to Rainbow Springs General Manager Stewart Brown the country’s wild kea population is in decline and is estimated at less than 5000 birds. He says “In terms of advocacy, this (new JV sponsorship) is the perfect opportunity to highlight these unique birds and an ideal way to extend our enrichment programmes and continue to educate visitors to Rainbow Springs about why we need to preserve these unusual native birds.” Jenny, pictured above, got to check out a KEA camper during the sponsorship announcement. 

Praise for Maori rafting company

The reverence shown by guides on a Kaituna River rafting expedition inspired US adventurer Richard Bangs to promote the Maori way of environmental sustainability to the world. Richard has lead trips on 35 rivers around the world including the Yangtze in China and the Zambezi in Southern Africa but it took a trip with Kaitiaki Adventures to introduce him to the time-honoured concept of ‘kaitiakitanga’ (guardianship of the environment). This discovery lead Richard to produce and host a documentary (for US audiences) and also write a book entitled ‘Quest for Kaitiakitanga: The Ancient Maori secret from New Zealand that could save the Earth’. He said the Kaitiaki Adventures’ guides respect for the river had “an almost religious aspect to it. It stirred something in me and I had to return to New Zealand to try and understand the concept”. The documentary, ‘Adventures with a Purpose: Quest for Kaitiakitanga’, is a 1-hour special that follows Richard as he tours New Zealand – a country he says is “a model to the rest of the world in the pursuit of sustainability”. The above info was taken from an article by James Beech that appeared in the Queenstown Times. 

10,000 and counting

Lynette Warn, a stalwart of New Zealand’s tandem skydiving fraternity, reached a milestone in Rotorua earlier this week when she did her 10,000th skydive. The 44-year-old tandem jumpmaster, who works for Nzone - The Ultimate Jump, did her first skydive in Australia 25 years ago, and has since amassed 6000 tandem and 4000 solo skydives. She captained New Zealand’s first all female 4-way skydiving team at the 1999 World’s in Corona. In 2005 she participated in the Australian women’s record 47-way skydive and the same year was part of the world record breaking 151 person women’s skydiving formation in Perris, California. Nzone’s GM Robynne Williams says they’re proud to have someone with such huge experience working with them.

Local to speak at symposium

We alerted you to the upcoming NZ Wellness Tourism Symposium in last month’s newsletter. What we didn’t know at the time is that Wai Ora Group Chief Executive Bryan Hughes is among the line-up of guest speakers at the inaugural symposium being held in Nelson in September 18/19. Bryan is to host a ‘Beyond Spa – Opportunities to extend the Offer’ workshop. The Wai Ora Group includes Hells Gate, Wai Ora Spa, Mokoia Island Wai Ora Experiences and Wai Ora Lakeside Spa Resort all in Rotorua as well as Wai Ora Spa in Bangkok. Other speakers include Hawaii Island Wellness Travel Association founding president Susanne Sims, the Ministry of Tourism’s Katherine Lowe, Tourism New Zealand’s Monica Armesto, and John Hull of the NZ Tourism Research Institute. Early bird registrations for the two-day symposium close today (July 31), click here for more information.

Explore New Zealand

Stephen Griffith in TNZ has asked DRTM to remind industry to register to include their tourism business in Tourism New Zealand’s Explore New Zealand guidebook 2009/2010.  Registration is open until August 15 and can be done via www.tourismnewzealand.com. Stephen says the opportunity to be part of Explore New Zealand only comes around once every two years. Explore New Zealand is a discount programme aimed at travel agents and media visiting New Zealand independently.  Operators typically offer 50% off or ‘two for one’ deals for the cardholder and their partner. TNZ Chief Executive George Hickton says the programme is a great way of helping the many media and travel industry who want to come to New Zealand. “By experiencing more New Zealand product they are better equipped to sell and write about our country on their return home and that benefits everyone.”  He adds that the previous guidebook deals helped around 1500 agents and media to increase their knowledge of NZ. Stephen says while there is no upfront cost to participate, operators must be prepared to honour their discount offer when approached by accredited agents and media over the two-year period from January 1, 2009, to December 31, 2010. Contact Stephen at TNZ’s Wellington office with any questions not covered on www.tourismnewzealand.com. Phone 0508 868 747 weekdays or email stepheng@tnz.govt.nz

NZ sought after option

Aotearoa is still one of the world’s most favoured destinations. According to the results of an online survey released this week, New Zealand remains in the top 10 of the world’s favourite destinations. Undertaken by Lonely Planet during March and April this year as part of the travel publisher’s regular Travellers’ Pulse, the poll reflects the views of 17,500 Lonely Planet guidebook readers from 132 countries. Respondents were asked what country they were likely to visit next as well as to name their favourite country (of the countries they’ve visited). New Zealand came out No.5 behind the US, Australia, the UK and Italy (up from ninth last year) in ‘where to next’ and maintained sixth place in the ‘favoured country’ stakes behind Australia, Italy, the US, the UK and Thailand.  

Wine and food match

Multi award-winning restaurant Bistro 1284 are holding a Gibbston Valley Wine and Food Evening next Tuesday, August 5, from 6.30pm. A $90, 6-course degustation menu will feature the bistro’s new winter menu with matching Gibbston Valley Wines from Central Otago. Claudio Heye, Gibbston Valley Wines’ Director of Sales and Export, will be the guest speaker. Contact the restaurant on 346 1284 to join the fun.

Seasonal themes

According to a Travel Memo bulletin published earlier this month Accor Hotels are introducing new menu items each quarter. Currently it’s Visions of Venison. Plans for later in the year include Whitebait Delicacy and A Rare Cut. Novotel Lakeside Rotorua, Ibis Rotorua and Princes Gate are all local Accor properties.    

What’s on restarts in Oz

TNZ’s ‘What’s On in New Zealand’ campaign has entered its third year with a new round of Spring theme ads kicking off in Australia last week. Television personalities Petra Bagust and Robbie Magasiva front the campaign with two new television commercials telling Australians that New Zealand is fresh, new and waiting to welcome visitors at this time of year. Six additional ads will showcase key regions in New Zealand. DRTM is one of three RTO’s who are supporting the campaign with interactive online advertising on popular Australian websites. The Spring ‘What’s On’ campaign will run through until the end of September. Launched in August 2006, the TNZ ‘What’s On’ campaign has seen Australian holiday days during Spring (September to November) increase by 12.8% (135,000 days per annum) since it was first shown in Australia.

Building reputation on sustainability

Treetops Lodge and Wilderness Experience have been voted the best New Zealand hotel of 2008 by readers of US magazine, Travel and Leisure. The magazine’s annual reader survey looks at the world’s top 100 hotels. Environmentalist John Sax who founded the lodge says it’s heartening to observe New Zealand continually being recognised internationally as a leader in tourism “. . . it is even more heartening to see Treetops Lodge, built on sustainable values and practices, being recognised as the leader in luxury lodging in New Zealand and the world.”

More good news

Another exclusive Rotorua lodge has made this year’s list of the world’s Top 101 Hotel and Resort Suites. Rotorua’s Lake Okareka Lodge was named among the world’s best suite in the July/August edition of international private jet and lifestyle magazine, Elite Traveler, aimed at luxury travellers around the world. Diana Moore, Rotorua-based Country Manager for lebua Hotels and Resorts, owners of Lake Okareka Lodge, said she and her team were stunned by the news of being included in this year’s list of the best suites in the world. “It’s a huge compliment to our lodge - and to Rotorua – and will help us to attract some of the wealthiest travellers from around the globe to our city.”
Elite Traveler has a worldwide distribution aboard private jets and mega-yachts. Its readers, more than half a million per issue in more than 100 countries, have an average household income of $US5.3 million.

Another commendation for Tatou

Tatou International Ltd was named Emerging Exporter of the Year at the Bay of Plenty Export Awards held in Rotorua on July 18. Tatou International (owner/operators of Hell's Gate and Wai Ora Spa) were finalists in two categories - the Emerging Exporter of the Year and the Innovation in Export Award. The offshore arm of Hell's Gate and Wai Ora Spa, Tatou International has turned its domestic tourism and spa model into an international franchise.  The first branch, opened in Bangkok last year, was voted in the top five spas in Thailand. It uses mud from the geothermal field at Tikitere and offers products and massage techniques based on traditional Maori medicine. CE Bryan Hughes, who owns the company with his wife Lisa, said “We can't bring everyone to Tikitere but we can take Tikitere to everyone.” The judges said the company had proved its ability to deliver a unique product at a truly international standard.

Focus on training and development

For the second consecutive year the Heritage Rotorua has won a Hotel Standards Institute’s 2008 Excellence in Workplace Training: Workplace (Accommodation) Award. The Hotel Standards Institute Chief Executive Steve Hanrahan says the HIS award recognises and acknowledges the commitment the Heritage Rotorua has invested in staff development and training using NZQA qualifications. The hotel’s HR manager Kim Ibberson was presented with the award at the HSI conference in Wellington earlier this month. The hotel’s management team was also encouraged by the award win. GM Marcus Keenan says the win is “. . . a great reinforcement of our focus and commitment to training and development.” The 203-room hotel employs 130 staff and is Green-Globe-benchmarked for sustainability.

Celebrating form and function

Two Rotorua properties featured in the Property Council of New Zealand’s annual awards held late last month - the Energy Events Centre (EEC) and Te Puia. The $28m EEC project, pictured below, garnered a Merit Award in the ‘Tourism and Leisure Property’ category of the annual awards ceremony held in Auckland at the end of June. Events and Venues Rotorua GM Peter McLeod said the Energy Events Centre had been nominated jointly by project contractors RDT Pacific and Mainzeal. He said the award was acknowledgement of their quality project management and construction, and a tribute to the professionalism of the many organisations and individuals who worked on it. It was a big night for Rotorua as Te Puia, pictured above left, received an Excellence Award in the same category for the four main constructions that make up the redeveloped Te Puia. Te Puia Chief Executive Te Taru White said that the latest award was a “well earned celebration of the passion, effort, innovation and commitment that the design and construction teams put into the redevelopment of Te Puia which held many challenges and learning experiences for all of those involved as they worked to retain the cultural integrity of a much revered site whilst pushing the limits of design and construction.”

Make sure you're not greenwashing

The Commerce Commission investigated a Wellington taxi company in June after receiving a complaint that the company was breaching the Fair Trading Act by publishing false and misleading sustainability claims on its website. The Commerce Commission's Director of Fair Trading, Adrian Sparrow, said “Businesses need to be careful to ensure they can back up their claims. Consumers are increasingly aware of environmental issues, and may be influenced to purchase from one company ahead of another based on claims about sustainability or carbon neutrality, or eco-friendliness. All those in business making such claims should take a good hard look at how they might justify those claims, as the Commission will be monitoring the issue closely. “ Adrian warned that the Commission would take enforcement action under the Fair Trading Act where necessary. The Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter Assessor proves to be a valuable resource in assisting Charter members to achieve continual improvement in sustainability. Similarly, the Assessor is available to critique the sustainability claims of Charter members to ensure those claims are not false or misleading.

To find out more about joining the Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter visit www.sustainableNZ.com or call Gina George on 349 7289.

Three in a row

Baby Sterling Stevens-McNab entered the world at 10.43pm on July 12 weighing in at 9lb 2 oz. Mum Kylee Stevens, Dad Steve McNab and brothers Lachlan (4½) and Wyatt (2) are very proud of their new family member. Kylee says “The ‘boys’ are stoked with the new arrival and can’t wait until he can ride a motorbike.”

Still spinning

Haylee Bloor is the new Manager at TREKS backpackers. Haylee says she is really enjoying her new role and “learning heaps of new things”. Formerly Marketing Manager for Zorb, Haylee took up her new role on July 10. She says their autonomous groups/sports clubs area, opened in mid April, is doing good business. The new wing has a capacity of 26 including dorm rooms downstairs and a twin en-suite upstairs.

New TNZ chair

The Minister of Tourism, Damien O’Connor, has appointed Greg Muir as Chairman of the Tourism New Zealand board. The current Executive Chairman of Pumpkin Patch and former CEO of The Warehouse will replace outgoing chairman Wally Stone. The Minister says Greg is a fantastic leader who has a good understanding of international marketing and proven skills of operating in a competitive business environment.

Musically inclined

Rebecca Daniels is the new Sales and Marketing Co-ordinator at Events and Venues. Married with 15-month-old son, Rebecca replaced Michelle Adam who has gone to the UK on her OE. Rebecca is a member of the Rotorua Musical Theatre, and choreographed the High School Musical production which opens at the Convention Centre next month.

RIP James

Condolences to family and friends of local rafting guide, photographer and adventurer James Moore. James drowned in heavy seas off Mt Maunganui last weekend while practising for a 66km outrigger canoe race in the Hawaiian Islands. James began his rafting career in 1994 and launched his adventure photography business in 2000.

Tackling top jobs

A new era began at the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) last week when Tim Cossar took up his new role as Chief Executive. Well known and respected for his leadership of Positively Wellington Tourism over the past six years and the successful “Have a love affair with Wellington” advertising campaign, Tim says his goal is to raise the ante and get tourism recognised as a leading force in the New Zealand economy. “Tourism contributes $20.1b a year to New Zealand’s economy but visitor growth has slowed to 1% in the past year.” TIA represents about 2000 tourism businesses and organisations so achieving a higher profile in the community and at the political level will help the sector contribute even more by way of foreign exchange, investment and employment, says Tim. “I want to ensure that TIA is recognised as a central player and valued contributor to the development of tourism in New Zealand.” Tim’s replacement as Positively Wellington Tourism’s new CEO is David Perks.
David is currently GM at Copthorne Hotel and Resort Bay of Islands where he has been since 2002. He has been with Copthorne Hotels since 1998. David is also the current Chair of the Northland Tourism Development Group. He will take up his new role in mid September 2008.

Domestic results cause to celebrate

Most of you will probably have already caught up on the news that Rotorua reaped the benefits of domestic marketing campaigns during May, with a 21% increase in domestic visitor nights in commercial accommodation for the month ending May 2008. What wasn’t published was that May’s Visitor Attraction Monitor figures echoed this rise with a 16.9% increase in domestic visitor attraction visits in May 2008 compared to the same month last year.

Creative Fibre 40th birthday exhibition
Featuring weaving, spinning, knitting, crochet and felting
August 7-17 at Rotorua Arts Village
www.creativerotorua.org.nz 

Air New Zealand Cup rugby match
BOP Steamers vs. Counties Manukau
Saturday, August 9 at Rotorua International Stadium
www.boprugby.co.nz

Tough Guy and Gal Challenge
NZ’s most extreme off-road running challenge
Saturday, August 16 at Lakes Ranch, SH30
www.eventpromotions.co.nz

Highlander MTB Marathon
20km 40km or 80km MTB races to test endurance
Saturday, August 23 at Long Mile Road, Whakarewarewa Forest
www.n-duro.co.nz

75th Kurangaituku Netball Tournament
NZ’s largest club netball tournament
August 29-September 6 at Westbrook Netball Complex

North Island Dog Show
August 30-31 at International Stadium

For more information and a comprehensive list of events check out www.rotoruanz.com/events

We have collected your contact details. This information is collected to enable us to keep you up to date with tourism news pertinent to the Rotorua tourism market and keep you informed of the activities of the Destination Rotorua Marketing office. We will not disclose your contact details to third parties.

Jill Marshall
Communications Manager
Destination Rotorua Marketing
Private Bag 3007, Rotorua
Phone +64 7 349 7285
Fax +64 7 349 4133
jill@rotoruaNZ.com